Struffoli (Honey Balls)

Struffoli are fried dough balls that are covered in honey and sprinkles, all served in a mound. This golden sweet treat is an Italian Christmas staple. Struffoli are made from simple ingredients with easy prep, but taste anything but!

Today is a very special day because we’re frying something. And not just anything – struffoli! A.k.a. honey balls, which is what I grew up calling these honey-coated balls of goodness. Each Christmas my mom would make a batch (or, let’s be real, several batches) of struffoli and send some to faraway relatives while keeping a fair amount of them at home for visiting guests to scarf down.

And us. Actually mostly us. 🙈

After three years of sharing recipes on this blog, this is the very first recipe that involves deep frying. I try to eat healthily most of the time (keyword: most) so deep frying isn’t a cooking method that I use often. But sometimes it’s necessary, especially when it comes to family traditions and seasonal sweets. Thankfully struffoli falls under both categories.

How to serve struffoli

Over the years we’ve either portioned them into muffin cups for individual servings or served them all together on a platter, but I’m partial to serving them in one big ((delicious)) pile. That’s how the recipe is written below, but you can always serve them up however you like to. You can even get fancy and shape them into a wreath. 🙂

How to make struffoli

This struffoli dough consists of kitchen staples like flour, eggs, vanilla extract, salt, a tiny bit of sugar, and a hint of lemon peel for a subtle citrus flavor. That’s it! Everything is combined, rolled into strips, and cut into small pieces. You’ll want them to be around the same size so they fry up evenly, but they don’t have to be exactly the same size or perfectly rounded. Less work that way, and plus I like the ‘rustic’ look.

As for decorating – nothing fancy here. My favorite tip is to heat up the honey in a small saucepan until it’s warmed and flows evenly, and then pour it over top of the fried dough balls and toss to coat evenly. The warmed honey spreads easily and cools to that perfect, sticky texture that covers everything just right. Last is a heavy shake or two of nonpareil sprinkles, and you are good to go!

Variations on struffoli

I did a little struffoli research as I was preparing this post because I was curious if there were other variations on struffoli toppings, and turns out there are! Honey is a common denominator across all the recipes, but I noticed powdered sugar, candied cherries, nuts, etc. in addition to or in place of the sprinkles.

My family has always kept it simple with sprinkles, but feel free to jazz things up as you like with any of the above. For the photos here I used rainbow sprinkles, but a mix of red/green/white sprinkles is an extra festive touch we’ve done on occasion.

Tools used in making struffoli:

A candy thermometer for ensuring the oil reaches 375°F. Having the oil reach the appropriate temperature yields struffoli that are perfectly crisp but not greasy.

Struffoli are fried dough balls that are covered in honey and sprinkles, all served in a mound. This golden sweet treat is an Italian Christmas staple. Struffoli are made from simple ingredients with easy prep, but taste anything but!

Flour a work surface and turn out dough onto it. Knead in remaining 1/4 cup of flour. The dough should only be mildly sticky - not too much. If it's too sticky to handle, add additional flour 1 tbsp at a time until it reaches the desired consistency.

Using a paring knife, cut dough into 10 equally-sized sections. Roll each section into a long, thin cylinder about 1/2"-thick, and slice them into approximately 1/2"-wide pieces.

Add oil to a pot with tall sides (about 3-qt. capacity) and place over medium heat on the stovetop. Once oil reaches 375°F, add about one-third of the dough balls and allow them to fry for a few minutes, until they turn golden-brown. Remove the struffoli from the oil and place on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil.

Continue with the remaining two batches, placing a layer or two of paper towels between batches. Let struffoli cool, and then place them in a bowl.

Heat honey in a small saucepan until it's warmed and easily pourable. Pour warmed honey over top of the struffoli and stir to evenly coat.

Arrange struffoli on a plate in a big mound and sprinkle nonpareils over top. Allow to cool and serve at room temperature. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Recipe Notes

*Use your preferred oil for frying - corn, peanut, canola, etc. You'll want one with a neutral taste and a high smoke point. Making sure the oil is at the correct temperature minimizes the amount of oil that gets absorbed by the struffoli.

Nutritional info is notoriously difficult to calculate for deep frying recipes because only a portion of the oil is absorbed by the food you're frying. As a very rough estimate, the nutritional info here assumes about a third of the oil was absorbed by the struffoli, though I'd say that's over very conservative overestimate. I've measured the oil remaining after making a batch and have found the struffoli only to have absorbed 2-3 ounces of oil.

It was real interesting finding a strufolli recipe on the internet. My grandmother from southern Italy made this treat every Christmas and I remember my mom needing an army to keep me from eating the whole pile. She also used the small sprinkles and I loved them that way. I’m not a fan of what some call “jimmies” because I don’t like their waxy flavor. It is such a fond memory of mine from the 60’s and 70’s when Nana was still with us. Unfortunately no one else has taken up the mantle for preparing this dessert due to its time consuming process. Maybe some day I’ll try it myself,

Glad you found it, Bill! My mom would hide away a portion of her batch so all the struffoli didn’t disappear before Christmas. It’s hard to resist, that’s for sure. In our family it seems to be that one person per generation has taken up the responsibility of making struffoli. Although it has fairly straight-forward ingredients, the task of rolling, cutting, and frying them up in batches does take some time. Something you might try out is making half a batch? Just about all of the ingredients, except for the honey, can be easily halved. That way you can still test out the recipe without as much of the labor required. Let me know if you ever give it a try! 🙂

My mother use to make this also for Christmas and I too use to eat just about the whole thing, you just can’t stop eating it.
Going through these Italian recipes makes me think back to my mother and grandmothers cooking.

Can’t believe your family used sprinkles. My mother was first generation Italian and always used jimmies (the longer, softer version of sprinkles). She used to say sprinkles were American and jimmies were Italian.. She also flavored her dough with vanilla and a touch of almond. The lemon she reserved for her love knots.

Hi Blanche, it’s always so interesting hearing about other family’s traditions. Your mother’s version sounds absolutely delicious – I’m a big almond fan. I’ve noticed the same with anise cookies. My family always used anise but I’ve seen variations where citrus or almond is subbed in for the anise. Thank you for sharing how your family makes struffoli!

I have only ever deep fried once at home, not because I’m too bothered about the fat but it’s such a hassle to get out a big pot, get the oil etc. However, I’m going to do it again! It will be so worth it for these little gems. They look so impressive in your photos I just have to make them. Yum!

Hi! I'm Alyssa, a twenty-something podcast junkie with a penchant for baking, boots, and pretty little things. Also strong coffee and spunky dogs. There's a good chance I can be found in the kitchen, wearing sequins, and dreaming of DIY. ♥